Council turns over New Leaf

As leaves fall over Sefton, often clogging gutters already full of unexterminated weeds, councillors are left pondering over what the future holds.

 In a surprisingly and refreshingly frank report (1)  Sefton admits that all has not been perfect in the past .

According to the council

" The employees who deliver the manual cleansing service have a keen focus on the litter picking aspect of their role, however, the wider understanding of ‘street cleansing’ required reinvigoration. A culture of not seeing the wider issues within the ‘street scene’ such as accumulation of leaves, fly posting, weed growth or graffiti has developed and this contributes to the deterioration of the local environmental quality. “  New procedures have been put in place including the purpose of leaf-blowers and suction machines with a zonal approach taken to streets cleansing.

As the report says "the structure of how the teams are deployed on a daily basis is now under review to create a zonal approach"

However according to Lib Dem opposition leader John Pugh the jury is out on whether the new systems will be sufficient.

“The zonal approach will mean teams blasting areas but perhaps only once in a 7 week cycle. The trees unfortunately don’t oblige and are shedding leaves continuously at the moment as any gardener will tell you.

This year is a bumper year. I am sceptical that Sefton can keep on top of this given the financial circumstances and the pressures from social services.The concerns is that many of our leaves will end up in the drains and then we  will have more flooding problems.” 

He added, “ You have to welcome new thinking and sympathise with the lack or resource, but the public will not long tolerate the council not delivering in such a highly visible service.”